


Darkness Darkness

by shuilian



Category: Leverage
Genre: Don't Try This At Home, Drabble, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, POV Parker (Leverage), Parker sleeps in a hammock, Post-Season/Series 04, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-OT3, Protective Eliot Spencer, sensory issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 00:16:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23002696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuilian/pseuds/shuilian
Summary: Parker needs help and finally has to tell someone about Hardison's nightmares.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker, Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Comments: 17
Kudos: 178





	Darkness Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> This may or may not be part of a larger work but can be read as a standalone.

Parker wakes with a start. Silently, she listens, until she can hear what had disturbed her here in her hammock, even with her door closed: Hardison is having another nightmare.

With a cry, she slips out of the bedding and leaps out of the hammock, rushes through the bedroom door, and across the landing to Hardison's room. Cautiously, she opens the door, and sees Hardison lying there in the middle of his enormous bed, still asleep.

She knows what he's going to need, but she can't stand to be touched right now. She turns and races back to her room, snatching up her phone and dialing.

"Yes?" comes the reply when it finally connects. Eliot doesn't sound like he was sleeping at all, but Parker knows him better.

"Hardison needs you," Parker says into the phone, her voice high and desperate-sounding despite trying hard to control it.

"He's at home?"

"Yes," Parker says, forcing down a wail.

"Anything else?"

"Please come."

"I'll be there in five."

Parker shoves her phone into her pocket and runs back to Hardison's room. He's sweating and yelling on the bed.

"Alec," she says soothingly while staying out of reach, "wake up. You're having a nightmare."

Hardison tosses and turns, limbs flailing, causing Parker to back off a little more.

When she hears the key in the lock, it's a relief so profound she's overwhelmed for a second. Then Eliot is standing in the doorway. She hadn't even heard him come up the stairs. She moves to join him.

"Please," she whispers, "he's having a nightmare again."

"How long has this been going on?" Eliot asks in a low voice, his jaw tight.

"Ever since, you know," Parker answers. It's been nine months since Hardison was buried alive.

"Every night?"

"No, it stopped for awhile after we moved. Now it's maybe once a week. But tonight I can't hold him when he wakes up."

Eliot just looks at her for a second with a look she can't read.

"Does he get violent?"

"Only when he's still waking up. It's more like trying to shake me off like I'm attacking him."

Eliot shoots her another look. He strides across the room to Hardison's bed and stops at the edge of it.

"Hardison, wake up," he says in a commanding tone. "You're safe. Wake up."

"Call him Alec," Parker says. It's just an instinct, but she can't shake the thought.

There's another thrashing of limbs as Hardison fights it. Eliot kicks off his shoes and climbs onto the bed. He slips behind Hardison, reaches around Hardison's waist with one arm and tries to fend off Hardison's arms with the other.

"Wake up," Eliot says. "You're safe. I've got you. You can wake up now."

Hardison's eyes snap open finally and he looks up to see Parker framed in the doorway. Then he turns and sees Eliot behind him.

"Alec, it's ok," Parker says quietly. "We saved you." She tries not to cry and pushes down the panic threatening to rise.

"You're safe," Eliot repeats calmly, not releasing him. "We've got you. You're safe now, Alec."

Parker can see tears in Hardison's eyes. She watches as he relaxes and then lies back on the bed, in Eliot's arms. She knows later, much later, he'll want to take a shower and maybe even change the sweaty sheets even if it's the middle of the night, but for the next hour or so he just needs to be held. She doesn't know how Eliot knew to go for his waist, but Eliot always seems to know everything.

Now that Hardison is awake, it's safe for Parker to climb up on the other side of the bed. She curls up along the edge, looking at Hardison. He looks so much calmer than the last time this happened. In the beginning, she hadn't known what to do.

"We saved you," she says, looking into his eyes. "You're ok now." She doesn't understand why this is the thing to say; the statement doesn't even make sense to her. Of course he's not okay - but she knows that he says it to her and it somehow works when she says it to him.

"Don't tell Nate and Sophie," Hardison says, his voice hoarse.

"They don't need to know about the nightmares," Eliot says quietly. "We can talk about it tomorrow. Don't worry about that right now."

"Do you have to go now?" Hardison asks, his voice still strained.

"I'm not going anywhere," Eliot says. "Not unless you want me to."

Parker sees Hardison relax then, really relax. It's like all the tension just drains out of him. For awhile they just lay there with none of them speaking.

"You're so smart, mama," Hardison says to her now. "You did such a good job."

"I'm sorry I can't touch you," Parker says in a small voice.

"Nah, don't ever apologize for that," Hardison says. "You knew just what to do."

Parker bites her lip. She doesn't know what to do if this happens again. What if Eliot's busy that night?

As if he can read the worried look on her face, Eliot speaks.

"I can stay here. I've just been worried about the tomatoes, but I don't  _ need _ to stay overnight with them."

"Please stay," Parker says. She remembers to say "please" all the time now, but now it seems like it's not a strong enough word for what she's feeling. "Don't leave us."

"Hey, hey, no one's leaving you," Eliot says. "I can have the room by the door?"

"That  _ is _ your room," Parker says, confused. She'd thought it was obvious. Eliot had been sleeping there for months at least a couple times a week. Now that she thought about it, Hardison had never had a nightmare when Eliot had stayed over.

"Okay, tell you what. I'll stay here at night unless I'm on a job or visiting a friend. If I'm visiting a friend, you can still call me anytime," Eliot says.

"Sounds good to me," Hardison says, sounding half asleep.

"Yes," she says. She can feel herself getting calmer inside.

"Then that's what we'll do. And I'm not going to  _ leave _ you guys ever, not unless you want me to."

Parker understands that he's talking about leaving for good, leaving the team. She doesn't want to even think about that.

"We want you to stay forever," she says.

"Yeah, we do," Hardison says.

"That's it, then, ok?" Eliot says.

"You're not just saying that?" Hardison asks suddenly. "You do  _ want _ to stay here?"

"I do," Eliot says.

**Author's Note:**

> What works for some people doesn't work for others, so don't try this at home.
> 
> Hardison doesn't have nightmares when Eliot stays over as an accidental byproduct of Eliot making them follow a routine.
> 
> Hardison has a king-sized bed.
> 
> You can believe they are going to talk about this later.


End file.
